AFC Cup: Saif SC will face TC Sports in Male on Tuesday

Dhaka – Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) side Saif Sporting Club will play Maldives Premier League team TC Sports Club in their away match of the AFC Cup Preliminary stage at the National Stadium in Male on Tuesday.The match will be telecast live on the Maldives National TV named “PSM TV” from 9pm local time.New sensation in country’s football, Saif SC, which finished 4th in their maiden journey in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), already went down in the race in the two-match play-offs after conceding 0-1 goal defeat against TC Sports in their first international appearance, spoiling at least eight good chances, four of which were foiled hitting the cross bar.Kyrgyzstan forward Vlasichev Anatolii scored the match-winning goal for the Maldives team in the 23rd minute of the match by an accurate ground shot from the danger zone after beating three opponent defenders to the frustration of some 5,000 home crowd at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on January 23.TC Sports Club, which won the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup title in Chittagong in March last year, will play their home match against the same opponents at their home ground with an extra advantage of 1-0 goal.Saif SC will have to win their away and 2nd play-off match with a good margin to reach the next round of group level.The Bangladesh side attended a theoreticalbriefing session conducted by team coach at the Hotel Melrose meeting room on Monday morning.Ahead of the Tuesday’s match, Saif SC coach said the ground here is different and in the two-day practice session, the players performed their best. “Hopefully, result will come in our favour.”Saif SC captain Jamal Bhuiyan said, “We’ll try our level best to win the match to qualify for the next stage.”In a pre-match press conference on the stadium premises on Monday afternoon, the TC Sports Club Coach said they expect better results than the previous one.Saif Sporting Club is the second team from Bangladesh to qualify for the AFC Cup after Federation Cup and Bangladesh Premier League champions Dhaka Abahani Limited who are set to represent Bangladesh in the AFC Cup qualifiers directly.In the other South Zone matches, Transport United of Bhutan are scheduled to play their away match against JSW Bengaluru of India, also on Tuesday (January 30) at 8pmat the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore.UNB news agency